Authors Note: For a fantasy-lover, it's odd to say that I've never been that fond of zombies. But this idea hit one night about a month ago and wouldn't go away, and now RinHaru week has motivated me enough into getting this first instalment up for you all. Enjoy!

"We imagine that when we are thrown out of our usual ruts all is lost, but it is only then that what is new and good begins. While there is life there is happiness. There is much, much before us." – Leo Tolstoy

Part I
Creature

The flight back to Japan was neither pleasant nor unpleasant. When he was twelve, Rin had flown to Australia on his own in order to attend a school specialised in training promising young swimmers. The journey then hadn't been too bad, because the promise of attending a school that was going to set him on the path towards his Olympic dreams had sent thrills dancing down his spine.

Presently, Rin dug his thumb into the button on his armrest, reclining back into a more comfortable angle before scrolling through his iPod and readjusting his earphones. Despite his bursting enthusiasm to return to Iwatobi to share his exciting news, he now folded his arms over his chest in an attempt to convey to his talkative neighbour that he wanted some solitude for the remaining four hours of the flight. Secretly, he wished that Haru was the one sitting next to him. He had almost considered asking Haru to accompany him on his trip to Australia, but the impulsiveness of the idea had quickly ebbed once his rationality had taken a better grasp. To bring the friend whom he had left five years ago to a country where he would struggle to communicate to anyone but him seemed a little too unfair. And Haru wore his silence like a second skin, his inexpressiveness difficult to comprehend for almost everyone except his closest friends.

It was both frustrating and perplexing; trying to understand Haru's particular reasons for swimming. For years, a small amount of envy had simmered quietly in Rin's stomach; jealous of Haru's unparalleled ability in the water that he felt he had to work so hard to compete with. But unlike himself, Haru had made plain that he wanted little to do with the professional side of swimming. For Rin, squandered talent was nothing short of a tragedy, and Haru's resolute insistence of not caring about winning or being the best of the best was something Rin would never be able to comprehend.

Over the past week that he had been in Australia, Rin had often devoted time to imagining a different scenario where he would have managed to convince Haru to come with him. He would have shown him the natatorium, the one place Haru felt most at home, as he had accidentally let slip five years ago upon arriving to the swimming centre for practice. And he would have dragged Haru by the ankles if necessary in order to introduce him to his university scouts and former trainer, simply to boast of his raw talent in the hope that they might have considered offering him a place alongside Rin.

If it couldn't have been Haru, then it would have been Sousuke. Despair and melancholy twisted in Rin's gut as he recalled when Sousuke had finally confessed to his shoulder injury. He had loathed that wretched feeling of helplessness, unable to offer any means of consolation to a friend whose dreams had been shattered into irretrievable pieces. The painful weight of realising that he would be pursuing his dreams with neither Haru nor Sousuke had only settled over him while in Australia.

But when his plane finally touched down after a disruptive four hours of broken sleep, Rin had already resolved to make amends to his given circumstances. Despite a second breakdown, he refused to believe that Sousuke's injury was permanent. With proper physical rehabilitation and a sufficient amount of time to recover, the given circumstances would definitely hinder Sousuke's current efforts in pursuing a competitive swimming career, but maybe only temporarily. Perhaps his romantic idealism was overriding his level-headedness, but Rin's stubborn nature walked hand in hand with his optimistic spirit, and so he remained set in this chosen belief.

Then there was Haru. Fair enough, he knew that Haru was entitled to his own decisions for his future, but morals be damned if it meant Rin would have to cast them aside in order to try to show Haru what he believed he could achieve.

I won't let him stray down that path of what-could-have-been, he thought firmly as he stepped off the plane onto the jet bridge. I won't.

The time waiting for his rucksack to come rolling around at baggage claim took a lot longer than he was willing to wait. Snatching it up off the conveyer belt irritably, Rin strode through the slow-shifting crowd of disembarked passengers with a fuelled haste. Once outside, he checked his watch which read 3:27 PM before setting off down the road towards the nearest train station.

Travelling from Iwami to Iwatobi took roughly about twenty minutes. Rin chose a seat close to the door, selecting one of his favourite playlists to listen to while watching the scenery roll past him in blurs of greys and greens. On the second stop, a pair of girls entered his compartment and asked whether he minded them sitting opposite him in order to share the table that lay between them. It couldn't have been pure coincidence; their thickly mascaraed eyes kept flitting in his direction, and they often bent their heads together to whisper furtively before breaking into small giggles. Twice, he caught one of them snatching her gaze away from him to look down at her phone demurely, flushes of pink blossoming in her cheeks.

When an electronic voice overhead announced that their approaching stop was Iwatobi, Rin shuffled the straps of his rucksack through his arms, shimmying to the edge of the seat. Even before the train had slowed to a complete halt, he stood, deciding to ignore the unsubtle looks the two girls gave him as he hoisted the rucksack onto his shoulders.

Coming from a small town such as Iwatobi meant that Rin was used to the quieter feel of a coastal settlement, but the first thing he noticed the minute he made his way out was that he'd passed no one either entering or leaving. An icy winter breeze from the ocean rolled over him on his walk up to the closest bus stop; he quickly pressed himself into the corner of the bench, pulling the sleeves of his hoodie further down to cover his hands. He stared off towards the direction of the sea, looking at the thick fluffy clouds scattered along the landscape of blue stretching from the east to the west, wondering idly whether the tide would be calm enough to consider a visit to the beach.

Thirty-seven minutes later, Rin had shoved his iPod into the front pocket of his rucksack and was pacing beneath the shelter irritably. Over half an hour had passed and he still hadn't seen a single person or car. Wishing he had remembered to bring a pair of gloves, he cupped his hands around his mouth to blow some warmth into them. A strange feeling crept along the back of his shoulders when he abruptly noticed how eerily quiet it was, as if the whole town had held its breath upon his arrival. Rin snatched another glance at his watch. 4:31. Fishing out his phone, he pulled it from his pocket and scrolled through his call logs list to find his mum's number. Upon hearing a recorded female voice telling him that the person he was trying to reach was currently unavailable, Rin blinked confoundedly before trying Gou's phone. The same response. Riled and fed up, he forced his arms through the rucksack straps and pulled it on before starting the reluctant climb up the sloping road.

By the time he arrived at his house, it was past five and Rin was repeatedly cursing the bus system as he forced himself up the steps leading to the front door. Fumbling around for his key, he unlocked the door, slipping off his rucksack and pulling off his trainers to set them aside. Winter's chill had seeped into the house; raising goosebumps on his arms and making him shiver instinctively. Upon hearing a delicate clicking, his gaze flickered towards the living room where a black sesame Shikoku padded around the doorway. A wide grin slid across Rin's lips as he took a few steps towards the dog before dropping into a crouch to open his arms in loving greeting.

"Hey girl. Miss me?" Ears pricking at the familiarity of his tone, she trotted elegantly over, too dignified to bound over like a manic puppy. But she pushed her nose into his palm, leaning against his knees as he stroked her head. "Mum! I'm back!" He called, throwing his voice out across the hall. He was met by a silence that suddenly felt strangely loud.

Straightening, Rin strode sock-footed along the wooden floorboards that creaked softly as he peered into the living room. Empty. A thin layering of dust settled around him like a shroud, tickling the insides of his nose. He crossed the hallway to the kitchen. Empty. He took the steps two at a time, thigh muscles beginning to strain with the effort once he reached the landing and poked his head into every bedroom. Empty. An inexplicable feeling stirred in the depths of his gut, crawling up his ribcage into his throat. It felt like fear.

Something brushed against his right leg and he glanced down to see his dog looking up at him with wide, dark eyes. Rin stared. For one absurd moment, it felt like her eyes were trying to find some thread of communication between them, and it kept him rooted. She continued to watch him intently, then cocked her head to one side, as if trying to appraise his perplexity. Carding a hand through his hair, Rin let out a sharp exhale in an attempt to dispel the lurking feeling in his stomach. The unexpected grumble of a hungry stomach made him lower his gaze to the dog sitting patiently at his side, and he ruffled the fur behind her ears in silent understanding.

"Come, Chieko." He clicked his tongue once to encourage her to follow him downstairs. She moved behind him like a ghost, never once attempting to overtake him as he entered the kitchen and opened one of the cupboards in search of her biscuit tin.

The minute he lifted it from the shelf, he heard the scrabble of claws on wood, and Chieko sprang up at his arm in an effort to knock the tin from his hand. Surprised at her uncharacteristic behaviour, he forced a hard tone into his voice, a firm command of "down" enough for her to drop down into a sitting position. Shaking out a plentiful amount into her bowl, Rin froze in mid-motion upon hearing a low whine calling up to him from below. Chieko had shifted a little closer, and her eyes were desperate and pleading as she licked her lips before letting out another strained whimper. A wrench of pain twisted in his chest; he quickly placed the food before her, blinking with shock when she bolted it down in less than ten seconds. Heart giving in, Rin tipped another helping out before returning the tin to its cupboard and digging out his phone again to retry his mum's number.

'The person you are trying to reach is not available; please try again la—'

Biting back a string of expletives, Rin punched down on the navigation keys as he retried Gou's phone. His attempt proved futile yet again. Looking through his list of contacts, his thumb hovered hesitantly over Haru's name before pressing the call button.

Unavailable.

He tried Makoto's phone.

Unavailable.

Nagisa.

Unavailable.

Rei.

Unavailable.

Ai.

Unavailable.

This time he made no attempt at withholding the numerous profanities that tumbled angrily from his lips. Stomping out of the kitchen, he went to the front door and shoved on his trainers, wiggling his fingers into his jeans pocket to feel for his house key.

The odd atmosphere that loomed over the whole house was undeniable. But with neither his mother nor Gou around for him to divulge the information that he had been accepted onto his former coach's swim team in Australia, Rin felt slightly frustrated. Throwing open the front door; he tipped his head back to savour the cold draught that blew his long fringe off his face, relishing the raw sensation of it washing over his face.

His mother and sister might not be there for him at that point in time, but his father would be.

Turning to lock the house back up, he found Chieko sitting in the hallway, dark eyes looking at him with that unreadable expression. Rin became aware of that fluttering thread that she was trying to offer out to him but he couldn't quite grasp. He stepped back inside and removed her lead from a hook in the wall.

"Come on then."

Luckily, the walk up to his father's grave wasn't as exhausting as the forty minute climb from the bus station to his house. But it made little difference to the weather's hostile mood. The wind buffeted him and Chieko, driving him up the winding sandy path up to his father's grave with a rampant ferocity. He bent to run a hand down her back comfortingly as she pressed closer to his leg, bowing her head as the gust whipped against their backs.

His father's tombstone was the last along the line, set near the edge of the precipice that looked out onto the endless expanse of ocean. Rin had often thought that his father would have liked this spot, a picturesque view of the harbour and sea; his second home before the waves decided to claim and snatch him away from his family. He stood silently before the grave and stretched out his arm to skim his fingers down the letters of his father's name.

Dad – fantastic news. I went to talk to my old coach from Australia and asked him if I could join his team after graduation and he said 'yes.' Of course it means I'll be moving back there and I'll perhaps only be able to come after the end of each term, because I also got accepted into a really good university and I'll be working towards a degree alongside training. I'm so overwhelmed; everything's finally coming together and I'm one step closer to our dream. Rin touched his knuckles against the cold stone surface of the tombstone. I'm going to get there. Watch me. When his hand fell back to his side, a cold waft of air swept down from the trees to caress his face.

He collected Chieko at the foot of the steps leading down from the graves. Untying her lead, he affectionately scratched behind her ears, a small smile gracing his face as she leant in towards him and closed her eyes blissfully. When he straightened again, she kept by his side politely on their journey back down the slope.

Drifting down the many branching streets, Rin once again became immediately aware of how silent everything seemed. On their trip up to his father's grave, he had quelled a feeling of unease that had curled in the pit of his stomach, but now it pulled his gut taut like a wire when he threw a sharp glance at the houses and shops surrounding him. He couldn't see or hear any movement from behind the windows darkened by the sun that had begun its lazy descent in the sky, and the roads themselves were so devoid of car activity that Rin was sure he could hear the softness of his breathing.

Ghost town, he thought to himself, digging his hands further into his hoodie pockets and hunching his shoulders against the bitter cold.

In spite of the cutting temperature, Rin was reluctant to return home. His limbs felt stiff and unused; he found himself longing for the indoor pool back at Samezuka. However, the school was still closed for the Obon holiday and despite his captainship, he had only been promised access to the pool a couple of days before the Nationals for those competing to practise. With the relay and his own individual races to prepare for, he was restless about the thought of having to wait until tomorrow morning to get back into the water.

Staring out across the town that inclined down to the beach, he was caught off guard momentarily by the beauty of the horizon. The sun was a low orb amidst a canvas of blue and pink and gold. On the breeze, the salty scent of the sea called to him, lulling and inviting. A short run along the beach would test his stamina after a week off training. His eyes fell down to Chieko, whose attention was currently directed towards the line of little shops on their right-hand side. Even though her ears were pricked, Rin thought he heard a soft whine. Crouching down beside her, he cupped her head in his frozen hands when she snatched her gaze away from the stores and leant into his warmth. He rose, setting off along the road that would take them down to the waterfront.

Jogging along the beach in the winter was surprisingly pleasant. The blood coursing through every vein in Rin's body brought a thin layer of sweat on his brow after about twenty minutes along the shoreline, and he stopped after another five to watch the waves lap at the toes of his trainers. Chieko was somewhere further down. He had left her off the lead, for he often brought her with him on his morning workouts here and after getting tired of chasing after him along the coastline she went to either dig a hole or lie down and wait for him to return.

This time, he pushed himself harder, determined to feel the burn of his calf and thigh muscles, to feel the ache in his chest when he knew he was no longer producing enough oxygen and lactic acid instead. By the time he slowed to a walk, there were colours of orange and gold and pink bleeding into the sky where the sun was about to make its final descent. He stood and watched, his hands pressed on his knees as he tried to control his breathing, watching the sea froth sweep up to fall back a few inches short from his feet.

The temptation of wanting to remove his trainers and dip his feet into the icy surf only teased him slightly. If Haru had been with him, Rin would probably have had to have fished him out from the water by now to stop him from getting a cold. An unfamiliar sensation in his chest tightened, but he discarded it by backing up the sand as the next wave swirled around his heels.

It was a little disconcerting to realise that he had been expecting to find the beach deserted. Not for the fact that it was in the middle of winter, but because on their way down to the seashore they hadn't met anyone along the way. He had absently deliberated upon the idea that everyone was purposefully avoiding him, but the notion was so foolish that he had thrown it aside within seconds, chiding his silliness by jogging the last kilometre down to the beachfront.

With resentful realisation that it had begun to feel like a programmed action, he pulled his phone out. The little battery symbol was now displaying 29%. Shit. He speed-dialled Gou's number, already feeling an acidic taste in his mouth. Unavailable.

Shoving the now useless device back into his pocket, Rin started to head back up the shore where he had last seen Chieko. Within a few minutes, the sky would turn a dusky pink, and he would have to jog back uphill again to make it to his house before nightfall. Already, the sweat had evaporated off his body; it felt like his bones were locking together as he trudged back up the beach, back hunched against the sea breeze. Pressing his index finger and thumb past his lips, he whistled a long, shrill note to summon Chieko.

He could see her about fifty yards away, but her back was turned to him and her ears were pricked towards something further ahead. He called again, but she made no sign of recognition. A slight itch of irritation gnawed at him, but he simply lengthened his stride, stomping over the wet sand to reach her where she stood stock-still, eyes trained on whatever held her rapt and frozen in place.

"Oi." Rin reached out to smooth a hand down her ruffled fur. She didn't even twist her head to acknowledge his presence beside her. It was when he stroked down her side that he felt the vibration of her ribcage, and the low distinctive growl from within. He withdrew his hand. Although Chieko had never displayed any aggression towards him or his mother or sister, he was aware that her breed was a type that was to always be handled carefully, despite her unusually tolerant nature. A foreign uncertainty slid up his spine; he tried to soothe her by the familiarity of his voice, but he could still hear the rumble in her chest, so he lifted his head to try and discern what had caught her attention.

Further down along the eastern side of the beach, a lone figure was moving along the shoreline. The tide rolled in, sweeping around the person's feet that looked so starkly white in contrast to the wet, brown sand. It was a man; Rin could easily distinguish the ripped trousers that hung limply from his narrow hips, torn and ripped at the hems. His chest was bare and exposed to the hostile frigidity of the wind; it curled a few loose strands of his matted hair off his face, before changing direction and blowing diagonally towards Rin and Chieko, who both stood immobile not thirty metres away. The man tipped his head back, such an awkward, slow movement that Rin thought for one absurd moment that he was contemplating the sky before he lowered his jaw and fixed his stare straight on the pair of them. He continued to move with a sluggish inelegance, every step stiff and sharp as he continued towards them, his shoulders set stiff against his sides as he walked.

An ominous feeling crept down the back of Rin's neck. Although he was not touching Chieko, he swore he could feel the thrum of her ribs against his arms as she continued to growl. Her eyes, usually bright with curiosity and affection now held a distant flame of animosity that he swore he saw spring aflame as the rumble in her barrel turned into a snarl. Tearing his gaze away from her, Rin straightened from his crouch, refocusing his attention back on the man that was now less than twenty yards away. He could feel the anger hot in his chest; he was not afraid, he would not be intimidated by a mere stranger who looked like he could no more make the distance between him and Chieko than Rin himself could make from here to Tokyo.

Chieko moved, taking one single step forwards, her lips drawn back past a vicious set of white teeth, snarling louder still at the man who stopped abruptly in his tracks. It looked to be a gesture of doubt, a sign of hesitation that made Rin think that perhaps the man would back off and turn away, leave them both alone to agitate some other poor soul. For a fleeting second he realised that this man was the first person he had met upon returning to Iwatobi.

And then Chieko sprang. Rin heard the sharp snap of her teeth as she moved past him in a rush of uncoiled energy and ferocity, covering the ground between himself and the man as she leapt up at his throat, paws slamming into his chest and sending him keeling backwards.

"No!" The balls of his feet dug into the sand as he sprinted forwards, throwing himself towards Chieko and the man that began to claw at her shoulders, wheezing through winded lungs as he tried to throw her weight off. But as Rin pounded up behind them, he saw that the man was not in fact trying to push her away, but rather trying to pull her down. He heard the rattle of the man's breath, saw the sand that flew up as Chieko writhed and twisted like a snake, but Rin only saw the man's jaws stretch wide, the rotted teeth reaching for her exposed throat.

He didn't hear the cry that burst from his chest as he lunged, slamming his weight against the pair of them with such a force that sent Chieko rolling away in the mud as the man rasped a shrill, whistling sound of surprise, then twisted to try to pin Rin flat against the ground.

Rin was vaguely aware of a sharp pain in his right shoulder, but he kicked up with one knee to try to dig into the man's groin, curling his hand into a fist and slamming it into the side of his face. Inches from his face, Rin could see the greyed skin stretched tight over the hollowed cheekbones, the sunken eyes that were glazed over with a lifeless yet fevered hunger, a skull incarnated into flesh that opened its jaws wide to try to sink its first bite.

He pummelled his knuckles into the gaping jaw, thrashing furiously as the creature snapped its head back to look at him, its breathing grating against withered lungs before it moved to close down on him again. It pressed down on Rin's arms with an unnatural strength, so inexplicably powerful for such a fragile, breakable body, and he was aware then of the tide that swept around them, soaking the back of his shirt and his hair with such a piercing chill that for one split second he thought it had paralysed him. He could hear Chieko snarling, saw her teeth sunken deep into the creature's right calf, yanking brutally in an attempt to pull it off him, but it seemed unaware of her savage efforts, looming over Rin with its jagged yellow teeth and drowning out every sense except the smell that suffocated him with the stench of decaying flesh.

He heard the hiss of the arrow before he felt the creature jerk sharply against his body. He stared in frozen disbelief at the sight of the shaft embedded deep into the creature's temple, the fletched-feathers speckled with blood that ran down the side of its face, dripping onto his t-shirt. Still under the effects of adrenaline, Rin heaved the sagging weight off him, and the corpse slumped into the surf, the blood from its death-wound staining the clear waters crimson.

Forcing himself up onto his elbows hastily, Rin twisted, eyes searching for his rescuer. His eyes skated over the slender form of a young man standing about twenty-five metres away, lowering his bow arm before starting forwards across the damp sand. He was dressed sensibly in a thick cobalt parka, the collar turned up to shield his face from the cold. Dark locks of hair fell into his serious eyes, a pair of eyes so blue Rin had sworn years ago they held a part of the ocean behind them.

"Haru..." Rin's voice was barely a whisper, yet Haru was moving towards him silently, his features drawn into an expression of solemnity as he scanned Rin from head to toe.

"Did it bite you?" Rin blinked, taken aback by the briskness of Haru's words. Haru was now a foot's distance from him, but he halted and surveyed Rin's bedraggled appearance with such an unruffled impassiveness that it left him feeling confounded with disbelief.

"What?"

"That thing. Did you get bitten by it?" Haru moved towards him so close that the breath exhaled from Rin's lungs was cut short as Haru's face hovered inches from his own, eyes narrowed and dancing over any patches of exposed skin that Rin's t-shirt couldn't hide. He couldn't suppress the shiver upon feeling Haru's cold finger skimming down the side of his throat, making his pulse flutter. But it was removed without a second's hesitation and he withdrew from Rin, standing back and regarding him appraisingly. "What about any other injuries? Did it scratch you?"

His words were so terse that Rin felt like he was rooting for words that had abandoned him completely. He fumbled for a response, trying to draw together a simple response that felt like it was sliding off his tongue. "No, it didn't—but Haru, what—"

"Not now, not here." Without another word, Haru moved past Rin and crouched in the blood-stained waters beside the lifeless body and pulled the shaft from its temple with one swift motion. Wiping off the blood on his trousers, Haru fitted the arrow into a quiver on his back and slung the bow over his head and onto one shoulder. Swivelling back round, his eyes lingered over Chieko and Rin, who had his arms thrown her, cradled tightly to his chest, fingers entangled in her wet fur. He traipsed back through the sand to them, then knelt in the sand beside Chieko and murmured softly. "We'll examine her when we get back to the base. It's already dusk now and come nightfall; the beach and the whole town will be overrun with more of them."

"'Them'?" Rin's voice cracked as he forced the syllable out. "Who are they?"

"I don't know what to call them. But they're dangerous and if we stay here any longer, there'll soon be too many of them for us to fight to get back to where the rest of us are hiding." Haru grasped Rin's shoulder firmly, rising and trying to tug Rin up with him.

"Who's 'the rest of us'?" There was no fracture in Rin's tone now, but Haru saw the unsettled look in his eyes.

There was no way to put it gently or reassuringly. Haru slung a small backpack over one shoulder—Rin realised he must have flung it aside before firing the arrow that had saved his life—and began to trudge up through the deep sand. "Those who were with us when the first outbreak happened; the day after you left for Australia. We managed to find most of your team members and brought them down to our temporary refuge. Your sister's safe; she was with Makoto, Nagisa and Rei during the initial contagion."

"But what about the others? The people? This place is a ghost-town, Haru."

Haru didn't turn to look back at Rin over his shoulder. He kept his pace swift and purposeful, a single, resolute form against a backdrop of purple sky that seemed to fall around him like a veil. "They're dead, Rin. Everyone. Apart from your team and mine, we're the only ones left."